A transnational perspective

The history of the German-speaking community is Belgian, but also German in many respects. Successively Belgian, German then Belgian again between 1920 and 1945, this entity has been deeply influenced by the history of both countries. This is why the various authors lend a great deal of importance to the history beyond the region’s borders. The work bears witness to a desire to widen the perspective to include the whole of Belgium, and not to focus on the German-speaking community alone. “Our aim is not simply to write an internal history, simply devoted to the German-speakers, but to write a transregional history, even transnational, which is essential considering the region’s cross-border nature. This is particularly conveyed through the choice of authors", Christoph Brüll tells us.

In the chapter dedicated to political history, the various contributors have thus endeavoured to place the political evolution of the German-speaking region within the evolution of the Belgian state. The whole process that led to establishing the language border in 1962-1963 and the creation of a German-speaking region, and the discussions of 1968 concerning the first revision of the constitution have been placed within a Belgian context. Since the position of the German-speakers is clearly not central, the autonomy granted to them in 1973 can only be understood within the context of Belgium’s decentralisation and federalisation.

Post-war period

Beginning the history of the German-speaking community with a volume concerning the recent past results from a carefully thought out choice made by the science committee, responsible for defining the work’s main principles.  For a start, the publication order of the first volume of this work is highly symbolic: 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Council of the German Cultural Community, the current parliament of the German-speaking community. And the present work analyses in detail the various events that led to this cultural autonomy, in the pivotal year of 1973.

Compared with the period 1919-1945, which has attracted an increasing amount of research since the 1990s, the period dealt with in the recently-published volume has received relatively little attention.  This is also why this first book is the only one to be written almost entirely by “natives” of the east of Belgium, who are familiar with the subject studied.

The following books need more in-depth international research and require new questions to be asked. One of the difficulties relates to the area being studied, which differs from one volume to another. In this fifth contemporary volume, the authors were already required not to restrict themselves to the nine communes that currently form the area of the German-speaking community. It would have been senseless to limit the study to this area alone for the Roman era, the Middle Ages or Modern Times. For these eras, the region between the Meuse and the Rhine was analysed. A common chapter to all volumes, entitled “Man and his environment”, focuses on these territorial issues and studies the population’s transformation as well as the evolution of the relationship between man and his environment in the period studied. “The view will obviously be very different for the volumes that will cover greater chronological periods. For instance, the volume on antiquity and the Middles Ages covers almost 2000 years of history, which is comparable with the present volume covering some thirty years.”

Establishment of the German Cultural Community

According to a structure that will be common to all the volumes in this series on the German-speakers of Belgium, the work is divided into three major latent themes:  politics, economics and daily life.

Many issues are dealt with in this volume dedicated to the post-war period: the main lines consist of civic screening, the Belgian state’s treatment of those enlisted by force, and the discussions regarding cultural autonomy. The region's political history and its correlative changes in people’s attitudes are analysed. The authors give an account of the German-speakers’ experiences in the light of two points of view: that of the inhabitants of the north of the region, around Eupen, and that of the German-speakers from the area around Saint-Vith. Even though they share the same rural character, these two regions are still very different regarding attitudes and economic culture. The German-speaking culture is also examined (cultural policy, the media, literature and social policy).

The 23rd of October 1973 – the date chosen to end this volume dedicated to the post-war period – is unquestionably a key date for the German-speaking community since it corresponds to the establishment of the Council of the German Cultural Community.  For the first time, German-speaking Belgians had their own parliamentary assembly. The proportion of members per party was first established in relation to the national elections. The first direct election of its members took place on 10th March 1974. “It was the first election of a cultural community council in Belgium”, Christoph Brüll tells us.